When deciding on where our home base was going to be while exploring the western region of the Dolomites (Cortina d' Ampezzo was in the eastern region), I have to say that I was rooting for Selva Di Val Gardena ("Selva"). We had three or four towns to choose from in the area and it was Garin who would make the final decision (since he had done much of the planning for this week of the trip), depending on where we needed to be geographically to explore the area. But secretly I was hoping for Selva because I was obsessed with the name. When I got the green light from Garin, I quickly booked a quaint place to stay in this town with an intriguing name.
In Cortina, I was warned by our Refugio keeper, Claudia (that is the title I created for her in place of innkeeper since we were staying in a Refugio), that I would find things to be quite different in the western half of the Dolomites. She claimed that the people in that region did not want to be Italian at all (quite a bold claim, I thought). She said that they considered themselves to be more Austrian. I was intrigued and couldn't wait to find out more.
When we arrived at our inn in Selva, we were greeted by a blond-haired, blue-eyed innkeeper, named Raffaela, who spoke with a heavy German accent. Claudia had been right! Were we in Italy? Were we in Austria? I confess that I was confused. When we ventured out to dinner later that evening and saw people dining on both pizza and weiner schnitzel, at the same restaurant, I knew this was going to be interesting.
A few facts about Selva now. Along with Santa Cristina and Ortisei, Selva ("Sëlva" in Ladin language, "Wolkenstein" in German) is one of three villages in Val Gardena. There is a population of just over 2,500 in this picturesque village, known far beyond the South Tyrolean region as a hub for wood carving and as a popular tourist destination. Selva is located in the middle of the Italian Dolomites. Since the village belongs to the geographical area of Ladinia, Ladin is one of the official languages in Selva (spoken by 90% of inhabitants and resembling German), in addition to German and Italian.
Our drive from Cortina to Selva was breathtaking, with several stops along the way. The weather was cooperative for our drive, which one never takes for granted. We stopped in a charming town called Canazei, en route, where we did some window shopping (it was siesta time when we arrived so not much was open) and enjoyed seeing all the hotels along the main road adorned with windowboxes overflowing with colorful seasonal flowers.
We arrived at Selva in the late afternoon with some time to spare. We walked around and acquainted ourselves with this charming, friendly, and walkable town, before finding a place to sit outside at a local trattoria for dinner.
We had another hiking-heavy itinerary planned for our time in Selva (as we had in Cortina). The natural surroundings are magnificent and lend themselves to being out of doors and enjoying mother nature. We experienced rather moderate temperatures while there, which is typical for the region, and makes for pleasant hiking conditions.
On our first full day, we spent time hiking Secada. Click here to see the Earth Trekkers' (my favorite travel bloggers for all things outdoors/adventure) take on seeing this area: https://www.earthtrekkers.com/seceda-dolomites/. We had a long, but successful day of hiking, as we decided to hike all the way back to Selva, rather than take public transportation, as we had in the morning. It was quite ambitious, I'll admit, but we felt proud when we pulled into our hotel in the late afternoon.
On our second full day, we visited Alpe di Suisi, which is the highest alpine meadow in Europe. Different from Secada, and easier to hike, Alpe di Susi was equally stunning in beauty with a different experience to offer. If you are interested in learning more about this area, please look at the Earth Trekkers blog: https://www.earthtrekkers.com/how-to-visit-alpe-di-siusi-seiser-alm/. After returning to Selva, and as we had the previous two nights, we dined on our favorite Italian comfort food, pizza! Some of our favorite pizzas in Selva were assorted seafood (including mussels); Italian tuna fish and onions; and prosciutto and arugula.
I was shocked to see snake warning signs around as we were hiking the various trails in the area. Naively, I thought he had left all the slithery creatures behind in Hidden Hills, but I was mistaken. The adder, a type of viper, seemed to be the one to look out for. Luckily I (we) didn't run into any of these highly venomous snakes, as that would have put quite a damper on my day.
We enjoyed a break from hiking when we visited the charming town of Ortesei, a short distance from Selva. They had plenty of shops to choose from, many filled with extraordinary woodwork, all done by local artisans. We found lovely gifts to bring home, which is always a win!
We got caught in this awesome hailstorm while heading to dinner one night. We would never be lucky enough to witness something like this in perpetually sunny southern California.
Remembering Fitzy...
I love this grouping of photos of a barely five-year-old Miles spearheading the effort to bath Fitzy during the pandemic (April 2020). Fitzy was always a good boy when being bathed. He was always a good boy about everything. He was Fitzy.
Comentarios